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T. W. YOUNG. ELEGTRIGAL INSULATOR.

Patented Feb. 23, 1897.

UNITED STATES PATENT GEEICE.

TAPLEY IV. YOUNG, OF IVASIIINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR TO DAVID A. MCKNIGIIT, OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRICAL INSULATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 577,704, dated February 23, 1897.

Application filed September 23, 1895, Serial No. 563380-' (N0 otleh) To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, TAPLEY W. YOUNG, a citizen of the United States, residing at ashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical Insulators; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thevsame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to the insulation of conductors of electricity, particularly to such as carry the currents of electric railways; and it consists, primarily, in heating the supports of aworking conductor by means of an electricallydieated body, as hereinafter described, the heating-current being taken from the feeder-circuit or from a circuit supplementary thereto.

One of the chief causes of the loss of current from a naked-wire conductor of electricity, however Well protected otherwise from snow and water, is its grounding through the film of moisture continually collecting on the supporting devices, and the heavy leakage thus occasioned my invention is designed to prevent. It prevents the leakage by preventing or removing the cause, the heating of the supports, or of any body located between the insulator and the earth on which the film of moisture collects, causing the evaporation of the moisture or altogether preventing its accumulation. Obviously the invention is applicable to naked conductors of electricity of whatever kind or form, and whether they be located underground, overhead, or on the surface of the earth.

In the drawings, Figures 1, 2, and 8 illustrate the application of my invention in three different ways to three different kinds of conduit-electric-railway conductors.

C is the naked working conductor, being shown in Fig. 1 as a track-pin, in Fig. 2 as a continuous wire, and in Fig. 3 as a sectionized wire with intervening insulation. Conductors C are exhibited as carried by insulators I of the ordinary type, (shown both in side elevation and in vertical section,) made of porcelain or other suitable non-conducting material and provided with stems S,into which are inserted the supporting-standards P, socured to a suitable foundation.

F in Figs. 1 and 3 is an insulated feederwire for supplying the working current to the conductors through the distributing-wires L, and it is not shown in Fig. 2 for the reason that there the continuous conductor is itself adapted to carry the working current. For their better protection from moisture wires L pass through insulators I, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

W in Figs. 2 and 3 is an indcpendentinsulated heating-wire or wire for carrying the heating-current of electricity, and it is not indicated in Fig. 1 for the reason that in the system there illustrated wire L is adapted to carry both the feeder and the heating currents.

II is a coil of naked wire surrounding stems S of insulators I, electrically connected at either end to insulated wire \V or L, smaller in cross-section or otherwise of a higher electrical resistance than said wires, and therefore becoming heated by the passage through it of the electric current. The heat from the coil H heats up stem S of the insulator I, and thereby prevents or removes the accumulation of moisture over a sufficiently large surface of the supporting device to produce a very high and practically perfect insulation of the conductors.

In practice the feeder-wires, heating-wires, and distributing-wires will be proportioned in size to the volume of current to be carried by them, which is a matter of exact calculation. The heating-wires may be attached to the supports either externally or internally, or otherwise arranged in proximity to them, in the form of resistance-coils or their equivalents. Obviously the shape of the non-conducting insulator may be varied at will, that form being generally best which sheds dripping water away from the electric heater.

Standards P may be adapted to support the conductor from above instead of from below, as shown. The electrically-heated body may be made integral with the ordinary insulator, as shown, or distinct from it and suitably located between the insulator and the earth, or

between the insulator and the conductor, as the conditions existing may require. For the mere purpose of preventiu g the accumulation of moisture over a given space on the device for carrying the naked conductor a non-conductor of electricity is not essential, and the resistance-coils might be applied, for example, directly to standards P, upon which the films of moisture would collect if the stems S were not present.

In Fig. 1 the current-collector is shown as a shoe or bar 13 of the ordinary type, carried by the motor-car, which may be long enough to bridge two or more of the track-pins. The motor and its electric circuit to the earth are diagrammatically shown, but the motor-circuit may be closed through a rail, a series of return-contacts, or otherwise. It is obvious that in so far as the current-feeding operation is concerned these track-pins are sectionized conductors insulated from each other, the equivalent of the sectionized trolley wire illustrated in Fig. 3, and that for the shoe might be substituted a trolley-wheel or other form of current-collector. The current is supplied by the feeder-wire in any required volume, and the distributing-wires take up just as much of it as the motor requires, while in its passage through the resistancecoils the current also creates the necessary heat, and there is thus provided a most simple, safe, and economical system of distributing a current to the naked conductor of an electric railway.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. A conductor of electricity in combination with an electric heater arranged in proximity to a support of the conductor and a hood for shedding water away from the electric heater, substantially as described.

2. As a new article of manufacture, an insulator for an electric conductor provided with a stem adapted to receive an electric heating-wire, a pendent hood for shedding water away from the stem, and a socket passing through the stem for the reception of a supporting-standard, substantially as described.

3. A conductor of electricity, an insulator supporting it, and a standard supporting the insulator, in combination with an electric heater surrounding the standard and located between the insulator and the earth, substantially as described.

4. An electric-railway working conductor, an insulator supporting the conductor, a main current-supply wire, a current-distributing wire connecting the supply-wire and conductor and passing through the-insulator, and an electricheater arranged in proximity to a support of the conductor, substantially as described.

5. An electric-railway working conductor, an insulator supporting the conductor, a main current-supply wire, and a current-distributing wire connecting the supply-wire and conductor, passing through the insulator, and having in its circuit the resistance-coil of an electric heater arranged in proximity to a support of the conductor, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

TAPLEY XV. YOUNG.

Witnesses:

EwELL A. DICK, M. B. GERRY. 

